In addition to working hard to clear its backlog of visual novel titles during the COVID crisis, hentai game maker JAST USA JAST has also been working on a fun side project: to create HD remasters of our classic visual novels to allow a new generation of fans to enjoy them. Today we’ll look at the X-Change Complete Collection, an HD-remastered version of all three classic eroge titles!
October marks the 26th anniversary of J-List, which means it’s the 27th year of my involvement with publishing visual novels. We started the company that would become JAST in 1995, with J-List created as a side project to “tide us over for a year or so” while we waited for visual novels to take off. We published three classic JAST titles before working with various other publishers. The Peach Princess brand was created to allow us to work with companies who wouldn’t want their games published under the “JAST” name (which was one of their competitors inside Japan). The first real hit game series we could get our hands on was the X-Change series from Hokkaido-based publisher Crowd, about the popular theme of a boy whose body gets changed into a girl (three times!).
What’s the X-Change Remastered Edition Like?
I’ve published or otherwise been involved with the release of more than 90 visual novels, from Yume Miru Kusuri: A Drug That Makes You Dream to Saya no Uta to the super fun Sonicomi: Communication with Sonico. During that time, I’ve learned several lessons, one of which is that there’s nothing harder than doing an “engine port,” moving a VN’s text and graphics from one game engine to another.
I still have horrible memories of publishing Little My Maid, an extremely popular (and long) game about a traveler who finds himself in a mansion surrounded by maids tasked with doing whatever he commands (muhaha). The game came out a year before Windows XP, and it was incompatible with that OS, so we had to spend two years porting it to a new engine before we could release the game in English. Ugh.
But that was before the modern tools we have now. Thanks to the magic of the Ren’py software platform, the genius programmers working with JAST could re-create the game with 100% faithfulness, preserving all the game elements and music and voice files… and best of all, upscaling the graphics to gorgeous HD!
The three remastered X-Change games came out even better than I thought they could have, offering the experience of the classic games but with eye-popping graphics that look great on a large modern monitor. The game engine is updated to offer full compatibility with modern Windows…as well as Mac and Linux compatibility! (More on that below.)
Here’s the game menu for the first X-Change game, which allows you to start the game, review your favorite CG and H-scenes you’ve enjoyed before, or listen to the game music.
The port is great, allowing us all to revisit the classic story of a boy who gets changed into a girl through a chemistry accident…but with gorgeous upscaled HD graphics that looked amazing when I played it on my 55-inch gaming monitor. (If you’re on a standard computer, click the images in this post to see the graphics in glorious 4k size!)
What’s even better is that this isn’t the original X-Change, but the updated X-Change R, an improved version of the game that we’ve re-licensed from Crowd. The new game adds full voice as well as some additional routes for you to enjoy. Fans have long asked for us to update the original game to the improved X-Change R version, and now we have!
(If you want the non-voiced classic game, never fear, that’s also playable as an option.)
The story: Takuya is a member of the school science club. One day he was cleaning the shelves, and a mysterious liquid splashed all over him. He goes home to find that he’s been transformed into a girl! What will his childhood friend (and crush) Asuka say about this? And will his genius senpai Asami be able to change him back before he’s doomed to remain a girl forever?
What I love best about the updated HD version of the visual novel is that you can optionally switch to the “classic” UI, allowing you to re-create the experience of playing the original. Natsukashii desu!
Moving on to X-Change 2, we get an equally great experience, re-creating everything good about the original title but with a modern game engine. It’s a year since Takuya’s bizarre time as a girl, and he’s a third-year student, happily dating Asuka now. When his crazy kouhai Chisato creates a machine that changes him back into a girl, all kinds of bizarre events happen.
I have to say, out of all three visual novels, I love the second game the best. Along with Tokimeki Check-in!, X-Change 2 represents the pinnacle of Crowd as a creative force in the H-game world. The game is long and complex, with amazing side routes to explore as Takuya struggles to find a way to return to his male form yet again. There are 21 endings in the game, all of which are super enjoyable.
Let’s move on to X-Change 3 now!
The third chapter brings Takuya to university, where he’s studying alongside his girlfriend Asuka and his old senpai Asami. When the perverted Koji — who’s in love with Takuya’s female form — makes a strange potion for Takuya to drink, you can guess what happens!
We’re happy to report a scene that was slightly altered in the first release have been fully restored in this version. So if you’ve been waiting for the “perfect” edition of this visual novel, that time is now!
Now Mac and Linux Compatible!
One benefit of rebuilding the games in Ren’py is that we could output the games for Mac and Linux compatibility, both of which should be considered “beta” features. In the case of Macintosh, there are some extra steps you need to do to get the unsigned executables to run, but it’s easy. The files are compiled for Intel processors but run under Rosetta for the M1 machines.
The X-Change Complete Collection is available via digital purchase from the JAST website right now. If you want to get your hands on our upcoming physical Limited Edition, preorder from J-List here! (You’ll immediately receive a digital download code so you can start playing right away.)
Thanks for reading this blog post about the HD remasters of the three X-Change remastered visual novels. Do you have any thoughts on the games, or on future classic H-games you’d like us to start work on? Post them below, or reply to us on Twitter!
We love it when one of our favorite artists hits the big time. Not only do we have official hentai products by artist O-Uso from Tamatoys, but J-List’s sister company J18 Publishing how his epic tankoubon format manga for you, in English and 100% uncensored form. Find all the products here!
